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Inspection of Pineapple Leaf Fibers Extraction to Be Used in Construction

Industry

Article · December 2019

DOI: 10.22606/epp.2019.42001

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Environmental Pollution and Protection, Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2019
https://dx.doi.org/10.22606/epp.2019.42001 17

Inspection of Pineapple Leaf Fibers Extraction to Be Used in

Construction Industry

Kayibanda Patrick1*, Richard Ocharo Onchiri2, Geoffrey N. Mang’uriu3

1
Department of Civil Engineering, Pan African University Institute for Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation,
Nairobi, Kenya
2
Department of Building and Civil Engineering, Technical University of Mombasa, Mombasa, Kenya
3
Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and
Technology Nairobi, Kenya
Email: kydpatrick@gmail.com
*(ORCID: 0000-0002-1259-7145)

Abstract. This paper presents the possibility of using pineapple leaf fibers (PALF) in construction
industry. In this study each leaf of the plant of pineapple contained 2.5% to 3.5% of strong white
silky fibers. PALF were extracted from the pineapple leaves after harvesting the fruit. An average of
the three ages, 1month, 2months and 3months was 30 units of pineapple leaves weighed 3 kg for each
age. The reported fiber yield of 1month, 2months and 3months were about 6.64 %, 7.48% and 7.70%
of fibers respectively. The extraction of 100 kg of leaves yielded 6 kg of the PALF by the process of
shredding using the mechanical methods. the reason for overwhelming attention on the natural
resources materials are due to large scale agricultural production annually in the world market for
example, pineapple is the most cultivated fruits in Africa. Pineapple fruit is cultivated in the world
wide approximately land area of 2.2 million km2. 600 thousand tons of PALF can be extracted from
agro waste leaves after harvesting of the fruits, Pineapple leaves are not even suitable for cattle feed
and after harvest of fruits the disposal of leaves becomes a serious environmental problem. Therefore
this research aim is focused on reducing the waste disposed to landfills by extracting the leaves of
pineapple.

Keywords: Pineapple leaf fibers, fiber yield, mechanical properties, chemical properties.

1 Introduction
Natural fibers have been used to reinforce building materials such as cements, plasters and muds. In the
industry of building [1]. The interest in natural fibers is because of the economic and technical aspects
including the high insulation properties they poses as compared with other materials [3]. These fibers are
classified into non-wood and wood fibers as depicted in Figure 1. Pineapple Leaf Fibers provide several
advantages including: they occur in abundance and are of low cost, they pose minimum health risks [2],
and have low density, desirable fiber aspect ratio and have relatively high resistance to tension and
bending [4]. Furthermore, Pineapple Leaf Fibers have good specific mechanical properties of strength
and toughness and lower density than synthetic fibers like glass and carbon or aramid for information,
many developing countries trade lignocellulosic fibers for economic improvement [5]. This method also
can help the poor farmers as much the support from the country. Other than agricultural propose, the
countries growing the Pineapple plant to generate raw materials for industries. The major problem of
natural fibers as are in forced material is improper contact of adherent surface and polymer matrix with
a bad interaction load transformation from matrix to fiber. Thus, to enhance the adhesion property of
fibers, it needs surface modification by using appropriate chemicals. The chemical used, was alkaline
treatment [9] grafting with malic anhydride copolymer and using saline coupling agent to treat the
PALF. [10].

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18 Environmental Pollution and Protection, Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2019

Figure 1. Natural fibers classification.

Pineapple leaf fibers is in types of plant fibers under leaf fibers, they are very common in tropical
regions and very simple to extract fibers from their leaves. The utilization of pineapple leaf fiber in
composite material is a new source of materials which can be economic, ecofriendly, and recyclable.
However, the main issue of PALF is its hydroscopic nature, which makes a big hurdle for fiber
utilization as a reinforced material in polymer composites. Surface modification of PALF is required to
improve for good interfacial adhesion of PALF with polymers in fabrication of polymer composites.
Some of the main features of PALF as reinforcement materials in composite systems are:
i. Low density,
ii. Low cost,
iii. Nonabrasive,
iv. Low energy consumption,
v. High specific properties,
vi. Biodegradability, and
vii. Generation of rural or agricultural economy [6].

2 Material and Methods

2.1 Materials
Pineapple Leaf Fibers
Many researchers worked on the use of the PALF in many fields, but so far the appropriate extraction
process of the fibers itself is still not done, therefore This paper presents an appropriate extraction of
leaves from the pineapple leaves agro waste. The study of chemical, mechanical and physical properties
of PALF composites revealed that their properties are highly depend on geographic origin of fibers,
climatic growth conditions and processing techniques [7].
The use of pineapple leaf fibers will not only replace or substitute the expensive synthetics fiber, but
also it improves mechanical performances of the construction materials, [8]. Among different types of
natural fibers, PALF shows outstanding fiber properties which are rich in cellulose, cost effective, eco-
friendly having good fiber strength. Pineapple leaf fiber is one of Natural fibers like sisal, banana, jute,
oil palm, kenaf and coir that has been used as reinforcement in thermoplastic composite and civil
engineering structures. [11].

2.2 Methods
The mechanical method was used for the extraction as shown in figure 2 and it is faster and able people
to make it like a commercial product; the manual method is not faster like mechanical method and it

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Environmental Pollution and Protection, Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2019 19

requires more labors. The pineapple leaf fibers were dried under the sun for two days. From production
of fibers, there were three states in this study. The first was the state of the fiber is wet fiber, the second
dried fiber and the third usable fiber. When fibers were freshly extracted from original leaves, they
contain moisture and the state is wet fiber. The dried fibers is when the fibers were dried under sunlight
or certain temperature after extracted from their leaves. Furthermore, the usable fiber is the total dried
fibers were to be used. From each type of pineapple leaves divided into three ages which were 1 month,
2 months and 3 months. A special machine with feed roller, leaves scratching roller and serrated roller
used to scratch
Out the waxy layer at the same time breaking the leaf surface for ease of extracting the PALF, after
removing the top waxy layer, fibers were extracted from pineapple leaves. After extraction, and dry
period, Alkali Treatment was done to improve the interfacial adhesion by using NaOH concentration
with various concentrations of NaOH 3%, 5% and 7 % for 1hour at 80°C. [12]
The fiber yield was evaluated to determine which time period of drying can give a good results of
production to be implemented in future.

Figure 2. Extraction process of PALF

(1) The field of pineapples

(2) The leaves and fruits of pineapples
(3) The Extraction of pineapple leaves
(4) Pineapple leaf fibers

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Fiber Yield Properties of Pineapple Leaf Fibers

Mechanical methods was done this way, each leaf of the plant of pineapple contained 2.5% to 3.5% of
strong white silky fibers. Pineapple Leaf Fibers (PALF) were extracted from the pineapple leaves after
harvesting the fruits. Fiber yield percentage was calculated to determine which type of pineapple leaf
produce high production of dry fiber.
An average of the three ages of drying period of 1 month, 2 months and 3 months was 30 pieces of
pineapple leaves weighed 3 kg for each age. The reported fiber yield of 1month, 2 months and 3 months
were about 6.64 %, 7.48% and 7.70% of leaves respectively. The extraction of 100 kg of leaves yielded 5
kg of the pineapple leaf fibers by the process of shredding using the mechanical methods. The fiber yield
calculation helped to determine which age that produced the highest percentage of fiber yield.
Percentage Yield of Pineapple Leaf Fibers was calculated by using the following equation (1).
Weight of dry PALF kg
% . 100%
Weight of fresh pineapple leaves kg

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20 Environmental Pollution and Protection, Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2019

Each age, i.e. drying period of 1 month, 2 months and 3 months was done in three trials, and the
mean was taken and in order to get the accurate production.

Table 1. The fiber yield calculation

Months Samples wt of fresh PALF (kg) wt of dry PALF (kg) fiber yield Mean of F.Y(%)
1 3 0.197 6.57
1 month 2 3 0.199 6.65 6.64
3 3 0.200 6.68
1 3 0.209 6.99
2months 2 3 0.228 7.60 7.48
3 3 0.235 7.85
1 3 0.218 7.29
3months 2 3 0.234 7.8 7.70
3 3 0.240 8.01

plot graph fiber yield of 3 ages

7.8 7.7
7.6 7.48
7.4
Fiber Yield %

7.2
7
6.8 6.64
6.6
6.4
6.2
6
1 2 3
Ages (Months)

Figure 3. Fiber yield of three ages

According to figure 3, the highest fiber yield percentage was 7.70 % for 3 months and it was observed
that as the period get increased, as compared to the higher fiber yield percentage is achieved as shown
in figure 3.

3.2 Physical Properties of Pineapple Leaf Fibers

The Tensile test was done to measure the extent to which the PALF can elongate to the breaking point.
It was needed for determining the maximum force was required to break the fiber or specimen sample.
Furthermore, samples were divided into different age such as 1 month, 2 month and 3 months. For the
test to be accurate, 9 pieces of pineapple leaves are used. The standard used for the testing was based
on American Standard Testing Methods (ASTM C1577-03).

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Environmental Pollution and Protection, Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2019 21

plot graph of maximum load of 3 ages

60 56
Maximum Load(N)

50 43
40 36
30
20
10
0
1 2 3
Ages (Months)

Figure 4. Maximum load comparison for different ages

According to figure 4 it was observed that the maximum load got increased as the period got
increased, the higher maximum load was 56N for 3 months. The longer time required for drying, the
higher maximum loads.

3.3 Chemical Properties of Pineapple Leaf Fibers

Chemical constituents of Pineapple Leaf Fibers, which are cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin were
determined following the ASTM D854-9, the samples of PALF were cut in equal length of 30 mm and
diameter of 0.052 mm.
Wt. A= weight after 12h of even dry 40°C using C2H5OH
Wt. B= weight after 12h of even dry 80°C using KOH
Wt. C= weight after 12h of even dry 80°C using H2SO4

Table 2. Chemical properties of PALF

sample smp wt glass wt

glass + smp wt. A wt. B wt. C cellulose hemicellulose lignin
A 1.007 31.7241
32.7311 32.8743 32.5838 32.2444 33.704 28.8 32.2444
B 1.009 31.9
32.9712 33.1588 32.8394 32.4612 37.483 31.6 32.4612
C 1.004 31.3
32.3067 32.5025 32.2354 31.9047 32.898 26.6 31.9047
mean 34.6 30.2 32.3
stdev 2.67 2.51 0.28
Source: The chemical properties (i.e., proportions of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) of the treated four
fibers samples were determined based the procedure described by Direct method of cellulose, hemicelluloses and
lignin [13] [14].

Table 3. NaOH concentration of PALF

Mechanical % of NaOH concentration

properties 0% 3% 5% 7%
Tensile Strength 23.5MPa 25.9MPa 30.1MPa 35.8MPa
Flexural Strength 32.1 MPa 33.7MPa 40.0MPa 48.6MPa
Elongation at break 15.11% 18.94% 20.48% 24.93%
Young’s modulus 601.3 MPa 813.5 MPa 1130.4 MPa 1503.8 MPa

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22 Environmental Pollution and Protection, Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2019

Alkali Treatment was done on the dry Pineapple leaf fibers using three different percentage of NaOH
concentration, 3%, 5% and 7 % for 2 hours at 80°C to remove the unwanted soluble cellulose, hemi
cellulose and lignin as shown in table 3. From The fiber to solution weight ratio was maintained at 1: 20.
After 2 hours the fibers were washed thoroughly in distilled water to remove excess of NaOH and dried
at 60°C for 24 hours[15] [16] [17] [18].

3.4 Tensile Strength of Concrete with PALF

The Splitting Tensile Strength at 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1% of PALF per cement weight increased
with curing time at 28 days at each percentage had a larger splitting tensile strength value than those at
7 days and 14 days curing. There was a significant increment in the tensile strength values at 1% PALF
for 7days, 14days and 28 days curing times. There were percentage increment of 4.61%, 22.76%, 27.29%,
36.60% and 69.61% for 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1% PALF additions respectively were obtained as
compared to the control mix at 7days curing time, where 3.15%, 16.07%, 23.76%, 39.45%, and 54.19%
for 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1% PALF additions respectively were obtained as compared to the
control mix at 14days testing, where 2.73%, 8.45%, 15.43%, 30.37%, and 51.62% for 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%,
0.8% and 1% PALF additions respectively were obtained as compared to the control mix at 28 days of
curing time. Figure 5 shows graphically an improvement in the tensile strength as the percentage of
PALF were added therefore incorporation of fibers in the concrete can also improve first crack strength
and ultimate ductility index.

4
Tensile strength in MPa

3
7 days
2
14 days
1 28 days

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
PALF %

Figure 5. Effect of PALF on the splitting tensile strength of concrete.

4 Conclusion
1) Based on experimental work, it was concluded that the longer the period of drying the pineapple
leaves, the higher yield of fibers was observed as the time increases.
2) According to the tensile test, it was found that the PALF becomes stronger as the time period of the
dry process get increased.
3) The results have shown that PALF can potentially be considered as candidate materials for
structural applications, offering desirable and excellent mechanical properties.
4) From the socio economic prospective, PALF is a new source of raw material to the industries and can
be potential replacement of the expensive and non-renewable synthetic fiber.
5) Mechanical properties i.e. tensile strength, flexural strength, elongation at break &young’s modulus of
alkali treated PALF are improved compared to the untreated PALF &it was also found that, they
increased with the increasing of NaOH% of concentration.
6) Tensile strength of concrete was improved in concrete, therefore this material can be used in
construction industry.

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Environmental Pollution and Protection, Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2019 23

Acknowledgements. The authors with great pleasure thank the administration of Pan African
University, Institute for Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation, Department of Civil and
Construction Engineering for providing their valuable assistance in the inspection of Pineapple leaf
fibers extraction.

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